Conical bottle capsule



` Oct. l, 1957 H MAJER 2,808,168

CONICAL BOTTLE CAPSULE Filed Aug. 6, 1954 United States Patent CONICALBOTTLE CAPSULE Helmut Maier, Tubingen, Wurttemberg, Germany ApplicationAugust 6, 1954, Serial No. 448,352

Claims priority, application Germany August 10, 1953 1 Claim. (Cl.21S-38) The present invention relates to conical bottle capsulesgenerally made of pliable material such as metal foil and appliedexteriorly to bottle necks suitably closed by corks or the like so as toform auxiliary closures for decorative and protective purposes.

Such bottle capsules are placed one inside the other for despatch, inorder that large numbers may be housed in a small space. These capsules,assembled together in rod-like form, become pressed into one another inthe axial direction by shocks and impacts in transport. Due to theslight conicity of the bottle capsules, depending on the bottle neck tobe stoppered, the contact pressure of the individual cap skirts againstone another becomes so great that air no longer remains between any twobottle capsules placed one inside the other. Thus, the individual bottlecapsules stick very firmly to one another and in one another and, inuse, can only be separated with great difliculty by damaging the skirts.Furthermore, the characteristic slight wall thickness of the bottlecapsules causes greater diiliculty, the skirt part of an inserted secondcapsule, protruding from the one bottle capsule, extending only a littleway out, so that it is then hardly possible to grip this skirt part.

In order to avoid the sticking of bottle capsules in one another, it isknown to place strips or other intermediate layers of paper, cork or thelike between the capsules. These means involve pointless waste ofmaterial and, in each case, an additional working operation for theinsertion thereof and thus increased expense.

All the above is valid not only for one-piece capsule constructions butalso for multi-piece constructions. In the case of the latter, which asa rule consist of a skirt portion and a top part, drawn as a so-calledflanged cover or merely formed as a disc, secured in the conical skirtpart by folding and pressing, it has also appeared that the partspressed together at the outer top edge oler too much resistance whenplaced upon the bottle, so that the capsule ts badly on the neck of thebottle. This defect is caused mainly when the diameter of the drawnupper flanged cover or of the disc corresponds to the inner diameter ofthe upper end of the conical skirt part, and the pressed upper top edge,after folding and pressing, is of a thickness corresponding to doublethe thickness of the material of the skirt plus double the thickness ofthe material of the drawn cover or the single thickness of the materialof the disc.

An object of the present invention is to provide a construction ofbottle capsule which will enable the abovementioned disadvantages to beavoided, and in accordance with the invention, the capsule ischaracterised by provision of a free, externally open, air space betweenthe capsules placed one in another for transport, due to appropriateshaping of the skirt and/or of the top of the capsule, the externallysubstantially plane shape of the top being maintained, so that thenested bottle capsules cannot remain firmly held together by suction andstick fast to one another. In a favored embodiment, the skirt iCC and/orthe top of the capsule is or are made to project locally inwards oroutwards in the region which would be covered by the next capsule placedthereon. More especially there may be provided projections or recessesin the form of grains, ribs, grooves and notches of any desired nature,or the like, preferably arranged in the region of the top edge of thecapsule in a circle on the skirt of the capsule. A projection in theform of an inner peripheral rib serving as end abutment vfor the nextcapsule pushed in can equally well be provided. According to theirheight, the projections form distance pieces or end abutments, whichprevent the walls from resting closely together and prevent theformation of vacuum on extraction.

YThe invention is similarly suitable for bottle capsules consisting ofone or more parts and produced or assembled in a manner known per sewithout seams or by drawing, elongation, folding or sticking.

In the case of multi-part bottle capsules consisting ofI a skirt and aninserted top part, in accordance with the invention the free air spacemay also be ensured, on xing one capsule within another, by constrictingthe skirt at the junction with the top edge into a narrowed neck, intowhich a flanged cover of correspondingly small dimensions, forming thetop part, is fitted by folding. By means of the aforesaid constrictionaccordingly a well rounded top edge of only single material thickness isobtained.

Finally, where the top part is stuck in, it may have a smaller diameterthan the skirt at the corresponding point, and have an edge bent intothe interior of the capsule, serving as a distance piece, by abutmentwith the top part of the next capsule.

Where a plane disc is used as top part, inwardly or outwardly projectingraised portions can be provided in the skirt, as has already beenmentioned in the case of one-piece bottle capsules.

Some examples of embodiment of the subject of the invention areillustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein each figure is shownhalf in elevation and half in longitudinal section. In the drawing: A

Figs. l, 2, 3, 4 and 5 show bottle capsules with foldedin and pressed-inflanged covers; and

Fig. 6 shows a bottle capsule with anged cover stuck Figs. l, 2, 3 and 4relate to the progressive deformation of a two-part bottle capsule, theconical skirt 8 of' which is connected with a flanged cover 9 by meansof a fold. Fig. 1 shows the unconnected parts in the initial position.As shown in Fig. 2, first the top end of the skirt 8 is constricted witha rounded transitional part into a neck 10, the edge of which isthereupon (Fig. 3) folded about a drawn up edge 11 of the anged cover 9,and pressed, as shown in Fig. 4.

In this embodiment the top itself can serve as abut ment for limitingthe depth of penetration of one capsule into another, Since a fold 15 issomewhat depressed to a certain distance from the well rounded top edge4, due to the selection of an appropriately smaller flanged cover. Thetop edge here is only of single material thickness, so that the skirtremains yieldable, and can be well tted on the neck of the bottle. l

As indicated by Fig. 5, bottle capsules assembled in such a manner canbe given raised portions or depressions in the skirt in the form ofgrains, notches, ribs, grooves, or the like.

Actually in this figure, the part of the skirt adjoining the top edge 4is additionally formed into a neck 16, for example constricted inundulatory fashion, the narrowest part of the constriction serving as anabutment for limiting the depths of penetration of the next capsule.

In the case of bottle capsules with tops or covers stuck J in, aircushions or air spaces are provided between the inserted bottle capsulesaccording to Fig. 6 by making the disc area of the flanged cover 9smaller in diameter than the minimum internal diameter of the skirt 8,when an inwardly bent flange edge 18 of the flanged cover 9 restsagainst a top surface 19 of the nexttbottle capsule pushed in, and keepsthis at such a distancey that here again there is an air cushion betweeneach two bottle capsules pushed one inside the other.

It will, of course, be lunderstood that various details of constructionmay be varied through a wide range without departing from the principlesof this invention and it is therefore, not the purposeto limitthe patentgranted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the scope of the appendedclaim. t

A cup-like conical bottle capsule of the type wherein a plurality ofsuch capsules may be nested and easily separated from each other,saidcapsule being made of pliable foil, preferably metal foil, adaptedto be applied to the neck of a sealed bottle and comprising a conical-skirt portion and a separaterdisk-'like top portion, the

skirt portion at its upper narrow end being bent inwardly so as to'forman inwardly extending rounded edge zone terminating at its free end inan annular inwardly reversely bent bead, the top portion being setdeeply within the skirt, and the skirt portion being permanentlyconnected to the top portion in that the inwardly extending edge zone atthe upper end ofthe skirt portion is bent downwardly and then outwardlyso as to form said re.

versely bent bead with its open side facing the inner wall of the skirtportion, and the outer rim of the top portion extending upwardly beingbent inwardly so as to form a bead with its open side facing the centerof the top portion, said two beads engaging each other in a clamplikemanner and squeezed together in axial direction of References Cited inthe le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 19,422 Booth Ian. 15,1935 1,209,925 Adams Dec. 26, 1916 1,579,762 Hammer Apr; 6, 19261,600,109 Gleason Sept. 14, 1926 2,055,693 Lewin Y Sept. 29, 193,6Y2,088,181 Swift July 27, 1937 2,151,508 Glensky Mar. 21, 1939 2,288,602yBenton July 7, 1942 2,530,124 Kieckhefer Nov. 14, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS846,843 France June 19, 1939 1,043,176

France June 10, 1953

